5G Factor Video Research Note: Juniper Cloud Metro – How Cloud Metro is Becoming the New Edge

For this vignette of a recent episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast, part of the 5G Factor series, analysts Ron Westfall and Shelly Kramer assess how the Cloud Metro is becoming the “New Edge”, where a great deal of the data traffic action is expected to take place, including certainly across 5G networks.

Their conversation accentuated:

  • How up to 50% of all enterprise data will be distributed in edge clouds by 2025.
  • More subscribers declaring their interest to pay for excellent service experience across apps such as cloud gaming.
  • The impact of the projected fivefold growth of metro transport traffic from 2021 to 2027.

Ron and Shelly underscore that the edge computing is expected to have a total addressable market of a half trillion dollars ($500 billion) by 2030 and how that fuels more demand for cloud metro solutions where connectivity, edge cloud hosting, and powering service experience outcomes are all expected to converge.

Watch a vignette of this conversation from our most recent episode of The 5G Factor, our webcast series focusing on all things 5G. Find the video here:

And the full episode here:

Or stream the audio here:

If you’ve not yet subscribed to The 5G Factor, hit the ‘subscribe’ button while you’re there and you won’t miss an episode.

Juniper Cloud Metro 5G
Juniper Cloud Metro 5G
Juniper Cloud Metro 5G

 

Disclaimer: The Futurum Tech Webcast is for information and entertainment purposes only. Over the course of this webcast, we may talk about companies that are publicly traded and we may even reference that fact and their equity share price, but please do not take anything that we say as a recommendation about what you should do with your investment dollars. We are not investment advisors and we do not ask that you treat us as such.

Transcript:

Shelly Kramer: Essentially the way that I look at it is that Metro kind of becomes the new Edge. What do you think about that?

Ron Westfall: Well, I think that’s a very apt characterization. I think we’re seeing that not just at Mobile Wolf Congress where Juniper raised both its profile and its game, I believe, but also we’re looking at various critical industry trends that are driving the Metro to becoming the new Edge, really where all the action is going on or certainly critical portions of the action is going on. And so I view it as this is where our connectivity, edge cloud hosting and service experience outcomes are really converging. And this includes, I think, information that we’re seeing that’s basically a consensus. For example, in the consumer side, we see that many of them are willing to pay for a premium service, that is to have quality of experience assurances that can guarantee something like cloud gaming or video surveillance, and things of that nature. But I think it’s not just about consumers, it’s certainly about the business side, the enterprise side.

Shelly Kramer: Absolutely.

Ron Westfall: And what I think is important here is that enterprise data will be increasingly distributed throughout Edge clouds. In fact, by the year of 2025, over half of this traffic will be residing in that environment. And so this is why it really becomes imperative to know what is going on with Metro Cloud in terms of, for example, that we can anticipate that Metro traffic will increase by fivefold, that is 500% over the next few years through 2027. So that reinforces the fact like, yes, this is the new Edge, Metro cloud is where the action is happening, and this is resulting in projections like by the end of the decade, this will be a $500 billion business. Let me rephrase that. It’ll be a half trillion dollar business by the end of the decade. So already we’re talking multi-billions in the very near turn. And so this is definitely a space that, one, a supplier needs to bet on, but it’s also a very smart, solid bet. And that’s why I see the Juniper Cloud Metro portfolio is really teed up to really take advantage of these opportunities.

Shelly Kramer: Yeah, absolutely. To follow on your comments with some additional stats that I think are interesting is, well, by 2022, we’re already there, 82% of video IP traffic, video caching is getting distributed into Metro. And so we’re seeing mobile data traffic, which will increase 54% by 2025. And by 2025, 30% of workloads will reside in Edge Cloud. So what you’ve got is you’ve got Metro, and then you’ve got all of these things around it kind of feeding into it. And that’s really where I think the key part of the value proposition there is.

Author Information

Ron is an experienced, customer-focused research expert and analyst, with over 20 years of experience in the digital and IT transformation markets, working with businesses to drive consistent revenue and sales growth.

Ron holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy from University of Nevada — Las Vegas and a Bachelor of Arts in political science/government from William and Mary.

Related Insights
MANTECH Bets on AI-Native CTO to Lead Defense IT Transformation
August 29, 2026

MANTECH Bets on AI-Native CTO to Lead Defense IT Transformation

MANTECH promoted Brandy Durham to CTO as part of a C-suite restructuring adding innovation and cyber leadership roles, positioning the defense IT contractor as AI-first amid forecasted cybersecurity market growth...
Okta Q2 FY 2027 Earnings Beat and Raise on Core Identity Strength
August 28, 2026

Okta Q2 FY 2027 Earnings Beat and Raise on Core Identity Strength

Mitch Ashley, VP and Practice Lead, CIO & Technology Buyers at The Futurum Group, reviews Okta's Q2 FY 2027 earnings, where core identity strength and new products drove a beat...
Sprout Social's Trellis: From Caption Tool to Enterprise AI Layer
August 21, 2026

Sprout Social’s Trellis: From Caption Tool to Enterprise AI Layer

Sprout Social's Trellis agentic AI unifies listening, publishing, inbox, and reporting into one intelligence layer, now available across all plans and already compressing reporting timelines at enterprise clients like JetBlue...
AI Implementation Is the New Account Control Point
August 20, 2026

AI Implementation Is the New Account Control Point

Mitch Ashley, VP & Practice Lead at Futurum, shares insights on how AI implementation is the new account control point. Read more on how hyperscalers are reorganizing to capture distributed...
Workday's Takeover Talks With Silver Lake Expose How Far AI Disruption Fears Overshot
August 18, 2026

Workday’s Takeover Talks With Silver Lake Expose How Far AI Disruption Fears Overshot

Silver Lake's reported acquisition talks with Workday pushed the company above $51B valuation, exposing a disconnect between public market pessimism and the durable fundamentals of deeply embedded enterprise software platforms....

Book a Demo

Welcome

The vision behind everything in Futurum’s Custom Research practice is this: research should show you what is happening, what comes next, and what to do about it. It should be personal to each audience, easy for people to grasp, and structured so LLMs can reason over it accurately. And it should be fast and turnkey; you want answers now, not another project to carry for quarters.

Whether you are defining business, channel, or go-to-market strategy; evaluating vendors or justifying ROI; or commissioning research to fill an emerging market need, we have your back, with a program that answers your questions with the objectivity and credibility to drive real decisions.

To do it, we bring unmatched data to bear: Futurum research, surveys, and market projections; validated market feeds; ETR’s 15 years of insight from 10,000 technology decision-makers; G2’s buyer and user data; and what our analysts hear every day. Add leading primary collection, from AI-moderated voice interviews to surveys and analyst-led interviews, all turnkey, and every project comes out credible, nuanced, and actionable.

And we don’t just drop the results in your lap. For internal work, we provide analyst-led sessions, interactive dashboards, and a range of formats. For market-facing work, Futurum delivers turnkey activation and amplification that actually gets seen, by people and by LLMs, through our media and share of voice. This is research that moves decisions and markets.

We will meet you wherever you are, from a fast-turn brief to a multi-year program, and shape the work to your goals, timeline, and budget. The right program for your moment.

If any of this is useful, I would love to talk.

Benjamin Brown, VP Custom Research, Futurum Research

Benjamin Brown

VP, Custom Research · The Futurum Group

Newsletter Sign-up Form

Get important insights straight to your inbox, receive first looks at eBooks, exclusive event invitations, custom content, and more. We promise not to spam you or sell your name to anyone. You can always unsubscribe at any time.

All fields are required






Thank you, we received your request, a member of our team will be in contact with you.